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You can’t keep a good monster movie franchise down. At least, that’s what the folks at Universal Studios would want us all to believe. Though their new “Dark Universe” didn’t kick off with as much fanfare as they would have hoped with this summer’s release of The Mummy, the studio that brought us all the original monster movies is moving forward with their plans, and they have announced who they are eyeing to take on the role of Van Helsing in an upcoming film.

Nowadays, it seems like everything has their own cinematic universe. You gotta give Marvel (and now DC) credit for fully implementing the idea of a coherent universe, spread across multiple films expanding the narrative for each of their films in the subsequent films. Of course, they weren’t the first ones to do it. Way back in the 1920s, Universal Studios made a series of films based on the classic monsters including: Frankenstein, The Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, The Mummy, The Werewolf, The Invisible Man, and many others. Now, it looks like Universal is going back to the well with planned reboots of these monsters in their new shared universe: Dark Universe.

The upcoming Green Lantern Corps film set to release in 2020 is scouting for its leading man. The rumor mill has pushed out the shortlist for possible contenders to take on the role of the Emerald Crusader. As we mentioned in a previous piece about the film, there hasn’t been much released about what we can expect other than the main characters will be the Green Lanterns of Earth: Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner, John Stewart, and Guy Gardner. This morning, The Wrap, dropped some names for who might take on the role and a surprising top of the list has a little experience with the character.

Fast and the Furious producer Chris Morgan is rebooting their Universal movie monsters into a connected Universal Monsters cinematic universe that begins with Alex Kurtzman‘s The Mummy. I definitely wrote this reboot off, as soon as it was announced, I loved the orginal series and of course without the main cast making it what it was (*cue Brendan Fraiser memes*) I didn’t want to give much attention to it. Of course, I caught a glimpse of the trailer during my evening sit down of The Walking Dead and had to make my way over to watching this “teaser trailer” a few more times. Watch The Mummy Teaser trailer now after the jump.

A lot of big movies come out at this time of year, blockbusters looking to make franchise money, and prestige pictures looking for awards consideration. But this is also a big time of year for pending releases. In the next several weeks, expect to see new trailers for many of 2017’s most anticipated movies, including some ones you might have forgotten that you were anticipating. To wit, consider The Mummy. Not only is it a remake of the classic Universal Monster movie from 1932 starring Boris Karloff, and not only is it the next big movie starring Tom Cruise, but its the kick-off to a shared Universal Monsters universe. And now, there’s a teaser… (more…)

Doug Liman, who’s currently working on the upcoming Justice League Dark for DC and Warner Bros. has a couple other films in the works including a sequel to the 2014 Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt sci-fi vehicle Edge of Tomorrow, the Ground Hogday of Sci-fi. While the film didn’t really kill it at the domestic box office, it did make twice what it cost world-wide, opening the door for a sequel if a story could be put together. Liman, in a recent interview, outlined how Edge Of Tomorrow 2 might look. (more…)

When it comes to the Universal Studios‘ Monsters shared universe, The Mummy is slated to be the Iron Man, the one that kicks it all off! Ironic considering that once upon a time, Tom Cruise was up for the part of Tony Stark, but now he’s the only hope standing between modern day London and a bandaged bad ass from Ancient Egypt. The Mummy is presently shooting in London, and while spy pics from the set are inevitable, Universal is trying to appease us with the official description of the film. There’s no spoilers here, and there’s really nothing surprising either, but what is affirmed below is that this is just the beginning. (more…)

Universal Studios continues development for their “Shared Monsters Universe” which is planning to include Dracula, The Wolf Man, Van Helsing, The Creature From The Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man, Frankenstein/Bride of Frankenstein, and The Mummy. The first of the films to come forward was Dracula Untold. The next film as part of this shared universe will be a reboot of The Mummy. This version of the film will be set in current times, and will have a little more star power than the previous versions of the classic monster. The film already has Tom Cruise as the hero and Sofia Boutella as The Mummy leading the film. Other actors attached to the project are Annabelle Wallis, Jake Johnson, Marwan Kenzar, and Courtney B. Vance. Production for The Mummy has already begun. Another actor is currently in talks to join the film and possibly have their own spin-off film if all goes well.

There’s no denying actor Tom Cruise’s box office power. As far as anyone can remember, the seemingly ageless action star has been fiercely running from one film to another and topping the box office in each film with his name alone. It was quite strange when Edge of Tomorrow came out and was one of his “flops.” The film did receive critical praise and a well-done sci-fi film, which should have taken off, especially in the geek world where the film literally had a video game-like narrative where the protagonist dies time and time again to successfully complete his mission. The film blended the right amount of humor and action. When poor box office reports came it, it pretty much ensured that this was a one-and-done franchise, but thanks to increased DVD/Blue Ray sales and an almost cult following of the film there was hope that a sequel would greenlight. (more…)

In 1999, Universal Studios had an unlikely hit in a horror/action movie starring Brendan Fraser called The Mummy. It banked on the sort of formula that has since made box office hits of movies like Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, favoring big, loud spectacle over any kind of substantive content. It spawned a couple sequels and a slew of spin-off movies based off of The Rock’s character, the Scorpion King. Now, the time has come to reboot the franchise and, fortunately, Universal is moving away from the Fraser-based franchise and putting a different spin on the Mummy story. The movie, which is to be part of Universal’s fledgling Universal Monsters Cinematic Universe, just started filming and new pictures have emerged from the set featuring starring actors Tom Cruise and Annabelle Wallis. Check them out below!

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